First-year Writing at Ringling College:Every Ringling College student must take at least one writing class. A few students receive AP or transfer credit for this requirement, but most students in every major will find themselves in a writing class during their first semester at Ringling. For studio arts and design community students, there will be a second semester of writing in the spring semester of their first year.

Special Projects and Collaborations:

ARC Writing Consultants can help with all aspects of any writing project. In recent years, we have developed close working relationships with a number of classes and projects college-wide.

NASAC: National Student Advertising Competition: are working with this year-long studio class in the Advertising Design department to ensure the best--and most correct--possible copy for their project book.

Evidence Based Design: Third Year Interior Designers spend a year researching and writing about a specific design problem and the writing consultants help them comose, format, document and proofread. Ringling Writing classes use MLA Style Documentation (see link above), but EBDers use APA Style--and it has to be perfect!

Fulbright Grant Applicants: Ringling College students who are interested in applying for this wonderful and prestigious opportunity need to begin early and write a lot. Writing consultants will be on hand to help with all aspects of this writing from organizing what to say to making sure it is well and correctly expressed. Follow this link for the Fulbright packet guidelines.

Make An Appointment: It's a good idea to make an appointment first--for any ARC service. Writing Consultants can often accommodate drop-in writers, but you never know when a project that requires consultations--like one of the above or some other--is due the next day. If your instructor requires consultations, you definitely need a consultation if the deadline is tomorrow!

Referral Form: By using this form, Faculty and staff can help ARC workers know what students need--and assure themselves of notification when the student comes.

Evaluations:

What is a Writing Consultation?

Writing consultations permit a writer to glimpse an informed reader's response to a text. At Ringling's writing center (which exists in the ARC), writing consultants collaborate with student or staff writers to develop and improve essays, letters, stories and much more. The program's mission is to make better writers, so the student-client is not only present but active in the consultation process. We aren't a fix-it shop or a drop-off editing service. We're here to help you create better compositions.

As we work with clients to improve their texts, we believe students will learn more about how to write--and especially to revise--compositions on their own. Student (faculty or staff) writers may arrive with complete drafts or with nothing but ideas or a topic or assignment. Our consultants understand that different writers seek help at different stages of their writing process; some come several times because they find discussing their writing opens new possibilities or speeds them along the way from start to finish.

During a consultation, consultants will first want to know about the task or assignment, the purpose and expectations for the finished piece and, most important, what the writer feels will help advance the project. What happens next depends a good deal on how far the writer has advanced: did she bring a completed draft? is he here to narrow a topic or get the contents organized? is research involved? Some consultants read the work out loud or ask the writer to do so; others prefer to read to themselves--and ask the writer to read along. The consultant may have suggestions for adding, deleting or simply rearranging words and ideas. Asking questions can help both the consultant and the writer progress in understanding the assignment and finding good ideas for further development. The immediate goal is an improved piece of writing that suits its intended purpose and fulfills the assignment. The larger goal is for students to learn more about writing and to develop more confidence in themselves as writers, improve their thinking and editing and recognize their unique, writing voices.

Sometimes teachers require consultations or assign a specific exercise that involves meeting with a writing consultant to complete a component of an assignment. Writing consultants may refer students working on research to the library's research consultants and vice versa. Together, these groups of students are part of your ticket to better writing.

When the consultation ends, students receive a one-page summary of what they accomplished during their sessions. Forms may be shown to teachers at the students' discretion.